A large influx of Californians are relocating to Colorado this year — they just happen to be entering on four legs, not two.

California ranchers, despite near-record beef prices, are culling their cattle herds in response to one of the most severe droughts that state has ever faced.

Colorado ranchers are taking advantage, purchasing steers as they have in years past, but also buying cows to rebuild herds thinned after years of dry conditions.

"There is probably not a yearling left in California right now. We are also seeing a reduction of our cow herd," lamented California Cattlemen's Association executive director Billy Gatlin.

About 150,000 of the 600,000 breeding cows in California have been sold off this year, Gatlin said. Some ranchers are shipping in hay to keep their animals alive, but the strategy is unsustainable and expected to trigger another selling wave this summer.

"You can't afford to feed your way out of a drought," Gatlin said.

Nearly 57,000 cattle — a combination of dairy and beef — have entered Colorado this year from California, compared with 28,980 in the first four months of last year, according to statistics from the state Department of Agriculture, which provides health checks to incoming livestock.

"They have been going mainly to Texas and Nevada, and I am sure they will be coming here as well," Chris Shelley, an agent with the CSU Extension office in Wray, said of the California livestock.

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While California cattle heading to slaughter regularly make their way to Colorado, this year is different in that a lot of cows are also coming into the state.

"We are short on females here. People are trying to replace them," said Bill Martin, owner of the Western Slope Cattlemen's Livestock Auction in Loma.

Martin, who also raises cattle, said prices were lower from January to March as California ranchers unloaded cows. But prices have since spiked as more ranchers clamor for breeding stock.

"Anybody who has had rain is going to California to get cows," he said.

Martin said California steers and heifers coming into the state, typically weighing 700 to 800 pounds, are running closer to 500 to 600 pounds because of the difficult conditions.

Cattle in California's Central Valley traditionally feed locally until the grasses dry out in April or May. They then move to greener pastures in the state's northern mountains or are sold to buyers farther east for fattening.

This year, grass in the Central Valley dried up by February and March, forcing cattle owners to take desperate measures. Today, all of California is experiencing extreme or exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One solution for suffering cattle owners is to lease greener pastures in wetter states. But Colorado ranchers and those who work with them say they would prefer to hang onto every blade of grass.

CSU Extension officials in several counties said they weren't aware of landowners leasing pasture to California ranchers.

"We are coming out of our own drought, and there is not an awful lot of capacity in either stored feed or pasture," said Keith Maxey, director of the CSU Extension office in Weld County.

More moisture in the fall and winter made it feel like relief was finally around the corner, but a drier and windy spring have revived old worries, Nunn rancher Ray Peterson said.

A drought-driven grass shortage forced him to cull his herd three years ago from 190 to fewer than 120. He would like to get back to around 200 but is waiting.

"I haven't taken any new cattle," said Peterson. "Given the weather conditions we are facing right now, I am hoping to hold on to the ones I have."

Grass — or the lack of it — will determine who can profit as the U.S. cattle herd rebounds from a six-decade low.

"High beef prices are an incentive to rebuild, if you have grass," said Gene Manuello, a cow-calf producer in Sterling. "If you don't have any grass, you can't rebuild."

Southeastern Colorado continues to face severe drought conditions, while the dominance of public lands in the Western half of the state limits grazing by out-of-state cattle.

In the San Luis Valley, heavier snows have provided a mixed blessing, providing much-needed moisture but also killing off calves.

About 18 inches of snow covered the ground before Thanksgiving and didn't depart until late February, said Don Shawcroft, a partner in John B Shawcroft Ranches, based in Alamosa.

"We are just hoping to recover from what we lost this year," he said.

Ranchers in Routt County, known for its alpine grass, take on a large number of yearling steers and heifers from California, but they can't exceed the usual pace by too much.

Ranchers know better than to take on more cattle than the land can safely feed, said Todd Hagenbuch, with the CSU Extension office in Steamboat Springs.

Consumers can expect beef prices to remain high, based on strong export markets and given the severity of the drought in California, Texas and other states, said Kevin Good, senior marketing analyst with CattleFax in Centennial.

"Supplies of beef are tight, supplies of pork are tight and poultry supplies have been stymied over the last six or seven years," he said.